Currently, computer implemented financial management systems provide a centralized interface with banks, and other various financial institutions, for electronically tracking financial transactions to allow a user to, for example, balance checkbooks, pay bills, track expenditures, and create and manage budgets. These computer implemented financial management systems have enjoyed increased popularity as their capability has increased and the complexity of the average households, or small businesses, finances have also increased.
Currently, some computer implemented financial management systems allow a user to track the nature of financial transactions, whether the transaction involved using checks, cash, credit cards, or electronic payment, and categorize each transaction as a particular type of income or expense. For example, with some computer implemented financial management systems currently in use, a user may track the amount of money he or she spends on taxes, clothing, dining out, utilities, mortgage, rent, etc., by assigning an appropriate category to each transaction. In some instances the appropriate category is assigned automatically by the computer implemented financial management system, in others, the appropriate category is assigned manually by the user. The user may then have the computer implemented financial management system pay his or her bills and/or generate reports periodically to determine the amounts spent in each category. Many users find this feature extremely helpful for ensuring bills are paid, preparing tax returns, and/or keeping within a budget.
As noted above, computer implemented financial management systems have enjoyed a tremendous increase in popularity. However, experience has shown that an average user is far more likely to adopt, and continue to use, a computer implemented financial management system if the amount of manual data entry, i.e., data entry made via any user interface device, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pad, or any other device that requires input from the user, is minimized. Consequently, it is desirable to eliminate as much manual data entry required of a user to either use, or set up, a computer implemented financial management system, as is possible.
One feature of some financial management systems that currently requires considerable manual input on the part of the user is identifying and scheduling a recurring payment. Once a recurring payment is identified and established, a user can schedule an automatic payment of the recurring payment, or a reminder regarding the recurring payment, at regular intervals, without further user input or thought.
Currently, recurring payments must first be identified as such, typically manually by the user, and then, for each recurring payment, the user must enter the data regarding the recurring payment, such as payee, account number, routing/address, payment amount, and date of payment, manually, i.e., using an interface device as described above. For the average household, or small business, this is a non-trivial task. Consequently, many users of current computer implemented financial management systems find this start-up process too time consuming and labor intensive and, in the interest of “saving time”, albeit in the short term, forgo setting up a recurring payment system, thereby leaving this potentially valuable feature unused. In addition, many potential users of current computer implemented financial management system never adopt, or buy, a current computer implemented financial management system because of the perceived difficulty of the start up process, i.e. the amount of data, such the recurring payment data discussed above, that must be entered to make full use of a current computer implemented financial management system.